At Long Last
by PrincessAlica
Summary: A second generation story. Time:1883. Possibly being rewritten... time will tell
1. Chapter 1

The sunlight spilled lazily through the green leaves so recently unfurled overhead as the horses hooves churned up a thick cloud of red dust as the master of Tara finally reached the last stretch before he was home. Home. Finally home, a home that he he had not seen for three long years. And now it was time to claim his birth right.

Aunt Suellen would not be pleased, but a recent discovery by Ella had conclusively proved his iron hold on the former plantation. Ella's motives had been innocent enough, but she had inadvertently stumbled across a hidden panel in the bookcase. The hidey-hole revealed a will that Gerald O'Hara had drafted in the Spring of 1862. The wording was very explicit. Scarlett and then Wade would be the owners of Tara. There was no ambiguity in the details. Gerald had then divided his monetary assets consisting of primarily Confederate bonds equally between his three daughters.

The matter would not have caused such a rift in the family if not for the manner in which Suellen received the news. She first tried to rip the paper from Ella's hand, clearly intending on destruction. She fought against Will like a a wild panther. And then in the middle of her ranting an screeching, she revealed the truth. "No one was supposed to ever find it there. I hid that ridiculous piece of paper as soon as I found it."

Will had been shocked by his wife's admission, or if not shocked he was indeed quite the actor if Ella's description was accurate. Suellen had continued ranting and raving until finally the doctor had been called in to sedate her. Suellen had been lying for years, laying claim to something that she had no right to possess.

Although there could have been a court case to argue over the merits of the will, Uncle Henry stepped in on Wade and Scarlett's behalves and smoothly transitioned the property into his mother's name. Aunt Careen didn't need the land, for she had left the convent and was married to a gentleman and was not lacking for money. And mother had generously provided a small farm for Will to cultivate. And now all that remained for the heir apparent to claim his birthright.

The horse's hooves pounded over the ground, the cedars lining the driveway now surrounding them. And then the trees fell away behind him and he could see Tara standing majestically before him. It was just as when they had returned the night that Atlanta fell. It was one of his first clear memories. Mother's face lighting as soon as the moon emerged to reveal Tara in shining white glory. And the sight of his home still stirred the same feelings inside. He was finally home.

He hadn't anticipated that Ella would be there waiting for him. The years had certainly changed her. She was waif thin which made her look perfect in whatever the fashion of the moment dictated. But her eyes were a luminous green shade very much like her mother. The only testament that her father had had any input into the making of her was her coppery curly tressses. No longer was her hair bound in tight braids, but instead it was pulled back and gathered in a cluster of shining ringlets and a small frizzle of bangs decorated her forehead. Ella had become a lady since Wade had last seen her.

But she was not so much of a lady that it prevented her from rising and flinging her arms around her long absent brother the moment that he leaped off of his horse. "Oh, Wade!" She squealed. "I missed you so much."

Wade hugged his sister tightly for a long moment before pulling back to look at her. "Ella Lorena, you've grown up. You're a lady now. What happened to the braided little wisp that used to chase Beau around the yard trying to kiss him?" He asked with a chuckle.

Ella blushed at the mention. "I grew up." She told him loftily, but then she grinned. "And besides, some things haven't changed that much. Why do you think I'm out here at Tara, when I have so many friends in Atlanta?"

Wade laughed. "Because Beau is at Twelve Oaks with Uncle Ashley."

Ella grinned impishly. "I told you some things haven't changed."

"So have you tried to force him to kiss you again?" Wade quizzed with a twinkle in his eye.

"Are you referring to the time that I threated to book his favorite book down the wishing well if he wouldn't kiss me?" She blushed.

"That's at least one of the examples that sprung to my mind. There are other ones I could mention." He paused a hint of sternness in his mannerisms. "Uncle Rhett would tan your hide if he knew what you were doing." He cautioned.

"From the rumors I've heard about both mother and Uncle Rhett, neither of them is in any position to criticize me. Mother was quite the flirt at my age. Why I heard from the Tarletons that mother kissed both Brent and Stuart when she was sixteen. What harm is there in it anyway? I want beaux too, I just prefer a certain Beau." She giggled.

"I'm sure that mother wasn't a saint, although I'm certain that she would prefer that we didn't know about that. But Ella, speaking of mother, where is she? I know she wouldn't let you stay out here by yourself."

"Mother has been over at Twelve Oaks helping plan a party for Uncle Ashley's birthday. They wanted to invite the whole county now that Twelves Oaks has been partially restored. Mother even says that it looks much like it did before the war. She was talking about some party that happened there years ago. I have to admit, I wasn't paying much attention, and I'm rather certain that mother is aware of that. She kept rambling on, but I was watching Beau. I would much rather watch Beau than listen to mother talking about the old days. She gets rather boring sometimes." She pouted prettily, looking very much like her mother, although she was unaware.

"I think I know the party she must have been talking about. It had to be the one where she met Uncle Rhett and the day that my father proposed." Wade said.

"Well I don't care what happened back then. That was ages ago, Wade. And anyway all the old talk of how terrible it was before the war bores me to tears. It's over. It has been over for my entire lifetime. Why don't they talk of more pleasant things, like fashion or shopping." She paused to leap up at her brother. "You were in Paris! You must tell me everything you saw!"

"Paris was spectacular. I went to Notre Dame. The service there was a once in a lifetime oppourtunity. And I saw the Sacre Couer and the Arc de Triumphe. And then I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Rome. It was amazing to see these buildings that survived for two thousand years. They were quite the visionaries...."

Ella interrupted huffily. "That isn't what I want to hear about. You must have seen some of the designers. Paris is the center of the fashion world."

"Ella, I'm a man. I didn't pay that much attention to the fashions." He protested. "Nor do I have the fashion knowledge of Uncle Rhett. I'm sure he has told you much more than I would hope to ever know." Wade finished.

She glared at him. "Fine! Then do you at least have presents for me? You missed my birthday and Christmas three years running. It's time for you to pay up."

"It's back in Atlanta. I didn't know that you would be here. I got you something every place that I went. You aren't lacking in gifts."

She smiled back at him. "Good. Well now that you are back, why don't we head over to Twelve Oaks. I know that Beau has missed you terribly" She cooed.

"That's funny since we just spent two and a half years together. I had to attend to some business for Uncle Rhett while I was over there or I would have been back with Beau."

"Still, I think that we should go over there." She retorted.

Wade laughed again. "I certainly missed you, Ella. And we shall go, even though I know that it is more for the fact that you want to be near Beau than for my sake. I am looking forward to seeing mother again. I have missed her."

"Well, what are you waiting for. Time is wasting when I could be flirting." Ella finished as she skipped ahead of Wade. "I've got to get my horse. The stable boy was supposed to bring it around, but obviously he hasn't. And then I will race you there, and I will beat you." She crowed.

"The race is on sister. The race is on."

TBC.

Tipperose: Three things I want in my fic (be as imaginative as you like): 1 Wade takes over Tara 2 Ella grows into a beauty 3 Ashley brings back Twelve Oaks

Three things I don't want in my fic: 1 Mammy doesn't die 2 Careen doesn't go to a convent 3 Melanie doesn't die Time period during which I want this story to be set(if applicable): 10 years after ending

I apologize if I didn't interpret your list correctly. Capt Scarlett thought you wanted Melanie alive, Mammy alive, and Carreen not a nun. I took it as you want Mammy and Melanie dead and Carreen a nun. If I was wrong I sincerely apologize anfwill happily go back and correct my mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

Ella leapt gracefully from her horse, as Wade reigned in his horse beside her. "You won." He choked through the red clay that was swirling in the air around him.

"You let me win." She grinned. "But I don't mind." She added with a toss of bouncing curls.

Wade climbed off of his horse. "Well there is also the matter of my horse having already ridden from Atlanta." He reminded her. "We've already had a long day."

Ella turned and ran towards the door, but was impeded by a scolding Mammy. "Now Miss Ella, I dun tole you and tole you that it aint fittin to ride yahr hawse like dat wid yahr skurts flying up 'round ya ehrs."

"Oh, Mammy!" Wade exclaimed. "You are a sight for sore eyes. It's been too long." He cried out.

"Mistah Wade, well look atcha. You dun tuhned into a gempmun." She said as she hugged him as if he were no more than a small child.

Ella slipped past Mammy into the front of the house avoiding anymore scoldings from the woman that still even seemed to inspire fear into mother's heart. But Mammy was still too alert to let her slip past. "Miss Ella. Doan you think you can git by Mammy lak that. You know bettah than hoe you was riding." She followed her former charge into the house, with lips pursed and finger wagging.

"Wade!" Another voice came from the foyer, a voice that was filled was both joy and relief. "Oh, my darling nephew. How I have missed you." Melanie said as she came and threw her arms around her brother's only child. " Did you enjoy seeing Europe? Oh, I know you must have. Beau has talked of little else since he got home."

Melanie led Wade into the house. "Oh, Wade. I am so happy that you are home. Your mother has been so kind as to help us out. I never was nearly as talented as she is when it comes to planning a party. She will be in shortly. She needed to clean up, because you know your mother, she had to be the one managing everything." She told him with a smile, and then added quickly, "Oh, I am just so thrilled to have you near again." And she threw her arms around him once again.

And then Scarlett emerged from the other room, her hair perfectly coiffed looking like she had just stepped from the pages of a fashion magazine. There was nothing in her appearance to suggest that she had ever toiled a moment in her life. And it seemed that mother that not changed at all in the time since he had last seen her. Her face lit with pleasure as she saw her oldest child standing so near. "Wade. I'm so glad that you have returned." She cooed, her eyes shining.

Wade smiled brightly. "So am I mother. It's so nice to be home."

Scarlett gave him a stiff embrace. "Where is your sister? I sent her over to Tara to get something." But then her gaze traveled to where Ella was peering anxiously up at the stairs. "Oh, there she is. Ella Lorena. I need you right now." Then she took a good long glance at her daughter's appearance. "Ella! You are filthy. Did you race your brother?" She admonished.

Ella smiled. "I won."

Then Scarlett and Ella began laughing. It took that moment to break the ice that threatened to consume his heart. Mother had not reverted to the cold, harsh woman that she had once been. Life had been kinder to her, much kinder, since that day ten years before.

He could remember it clearly. Mother had left Ella and him in Marietta with Prissy in a rush to get home. She had told them nothing as to why she was leaving, only that she was urgently needed at home. They had traveled home the next morning with Prissy and arrived at the Peachtree street mansion to find mother crying at her desk in her office. Mother's tears were a frightening terrible thing to him. Mother did not cry. She was too strong to cry. But she was crying.

"Is Auntie going to be all right?" He remembered asking.

Mother nodded her head. "She is going to be fine, but she was mighty sick." There was a catch in her voice, and for a moment his mother had looked like a small child needing someone to comfort her. "She is going to be fine." She finally sniffled out.

"Then why are you crying, mother? Where's Uncle Rhett? He always knows what to do." He had prodded. And it had been true, for the only moments in his life when Mother had been frightened, it seemed that Uncle Rhett had always managed to come to her rescue, despite all of the frigidity that had existed in their home since Bonnie's death.

But the mention of his name this time did not seem to soothe or pacify. Instead she whimpered like a cornered animal. And whispered brokenly that "Uncle Rhett left."

Of course in that moment, Wade had assumed that the disappearance would only be a short one. He hadn't understood what his mother had meant when she said that Rhett had left.

And true to his prediction it had been only a few months before Uncle Rhett was back for a while, playing the devoted step father again. But it hadn't seemed right. Nothing had seemed right since Bonnie's death. The only comfort was that Auntie was still there as she had always been. In his heart he always wondered what would have happened top them all if she had died. But it

And then he left again on another adventure, and in a much better mood. And slowly it seemed that whatever strain had been continuously present between the two of them had evaporated. In fact within a year, Uncle Rhett had moved back home and mother was expecting a child.

"Wade." His mother's voice came through the fog of his reminiscence.

"I'm sorry, mother. I was just thinking."

"Wool gathering is more like it. You weren't so distant when we visited you last fall." She reminded him.

"How could I help but pay attention when the rest of your children were screeching loudly enough to wake the dead in the catacombs." He snorted.

At that moment, three screeching children burst into the room. "Mother!" The oldest of the trio cried. They surrounded her mother like a bowl of milk draws barn cats.

"I think you need to welcome your brother home from his trip. You're acting as if I hadn't taught you any manners at all." She scolded mildly.

The three small faces turned to see their much older brother staring at them, looking disheveled and dusty. Lee, the youngest at the three, quickly flung himself at Wade's legs. "Bwah ver!" He cried. "I missed who!"

This excited voice sent ripples of laughter through those gathered in the large entry hall. Lee had been newly-born when Wade and Beau had set out on their adventure. But he was an excitable child, and was quite enthused at his much talked about brother's return.

Mammy descended upon the three children and ushered them into another room as Scarlett turned her attention momentarily upon Ella who had returned because of the loud noises coming from the hall. "Ella, did you write that letter as I asked?"

Wade watched in interest as Ella responded. "Yes, mother. Would you like to read it?"

"What kind of letter did mother ask you to write?" He prodded.

"Oh, it seems as if I have to write one every other week. I was proposed to by someone entirely unsuitable. I told him as much. Goodness, he was nearly as old as Uncle Rhett." She responded flippantly. "And besides, I have no desire to marry someone as ugly as he, even if he is filthy rich."

Scarlett smiled, as if for a moment reminiscing upon her own youth. "You're sister has taken to keeping each of the letters that she writes in her journal. They really can be an amusing read, as long as you don't take them too seriously."

Wade grinned at the obvious closeness between mother and daughter. It was almost frightening how similar they really were. "Where is Uncle Rhett?" Wade quizzed.

"He's on trip. Imagine that!" Ella replied.

And Wade was left to wonder if his mother's marriage was disintegrating once again.


End file.
